How to Stop Acrobat Read Out Loud From Reading Quotation Marks
Question details
The user wants to prevent Adobe Acrobat's Read Out Loud feature from verbalizing quotation marks as descriptive symbols while reading a document.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Listening to a PDF document using the built-in Read Out Loud accessibility feature.
- Observed behavior
- The text-to-speech engine audibly speaks the words 'quotation mark' or similar descriptive symbols instead of skipping the punctuation and reading only the text.
Make sure your Adobe Acrobat software is updated to the latest version and test multiple PDF files to determine if the issue is caused by a specific document's formatting tags.
Troubleshoot Document-Specific Issues and Acrobat Settings
Determine if the issue is tied to the specific PDF's tagging or if it is a general Acrobat limitation, and explore alternative reading methods.
Adobe Acrobat's built-in Read Out Loud feature does not always offer a granular preference to suppress all punctuation descriptions. Often, the behavior depends on how the PDF text and tags are structured, or the underlying text-to-speech engine of your operating system.
Open a different, simple PDF document in Acrobat and activate Read Out Loud (View > Read Out Loud > Activate). If the quotation marks are not read in the new file, the original PDF's formatting or accessibility tags are causing the issue.
Go to Help > Check for Updates in the Adobe Acrobat top menu. Installing the latest patch may resolve unexpected text-to-speech engine bugs.
If Acrobat continues to read punctuation and lacks the setting to disable it, consider using a dedicated screen reader like NVDA or JAWS. These programs provide advanced verbosity settings that allow you to specifically ignore or filter out punctuation marks.
Experience distraction-free PDF reading with WPS Office
If you are frustrated with complex PDF accessibility settings, try WPS Office. It includes a built-in, lightweight PDF reader that makes viewing, reading, and managing PDF documents effortless.
- 1. Download and install: Download WPS Office from the official website and install it on your computer.
- 2. Open your PDF: Launch WPS Office, click on 'Open' on the homepage, and select the PDF document you want to read.
- 3. Enter Reading Mode: Navigate to the 'View' tab and select 'Read Mode' to enjoy a clean, distraction-free layout for your document.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Acrobat Read Out Loud read punctuation marks?
Acrobat relies on your computer's built-in text-to-speech engine and the document's internal tags. If the PDF is tagged in a certain way, or if the basic Read Out Loud tool cannot override your system's default reading rules, it will audibly pronounce punctuation like quotation marks.
Can I adjust verbosity settings in Adobe Acrobat?
Acrobat's built-in Read Out Loud feature has very limited settings. You can adjust the pitch and reading speed via Edit > Preferences > Reading, but it lacks granular verbosity controls (like turning off punctuation reading) that are typically found in dedicated screen reading software.
How do I turn off Read Out Loud in Adobe Acrobat?
To disable the feature, go to the 'View' menu at the top, select 'Read Out Loud', and then click 'Deactivate Read Out Loud'. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Ctrl + Y (Windows) or Shift + Cmd + Y (Mac).
